The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program. The new variety originated from a cross pollination of an unnamed, unknown seed parent and an unnamed, unknown pollen parent, both Guzmania hybrida made by the inventor during 1998.
It was discovered by the inventor, Chester Skotak Jr., a citizen of Costa Rica, in March 2001 in Ajauela, Costa Rica in a group of seedlings resulting from the 1998 crossing.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘Durapau’ was first performed in Costa Rica by tissue culture in April 2003 ‘Durapau’ has been reproduced by micro-propagation and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.